Ralph Northam Struggles To Defend His Record On Automatic Restoration of Rights For Violent Felons

October 25, 2017

As his campaign finds itself floundering less than two weeks before Election Day, Virginia Democrat gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam continues to struggle as he takes new heat for staunchly supporting the automatic restoration of rights for violent felons in the Commonwealth. Republican Ed Gillespie released a new ad on Monday blasting Northam for his reckless position on this issue by highlighting the case of John Bowen, a non-law abiding citizen who had his rights restored two months after being arrested with one of the largest caches of child pornography ever recovered in Virginia history.

Northam was given the opportunity to respond during an interview yesterday with MSNBC, but he couldn’t come up with a single reason why the ad wasn’t accurate and did not refute any of its content, resorting to his usual talking points instead. Northam’s inability to defend one of the Democrat administration’s “signature accomplishments” further proves just how wrong he is to lead Virginia as governor.

ANDREA MITCHELL: “I want to give you a chance to respond to that, that’s a very tough ad.”

RALPH NORTHAM: “Well Andrea these ads just like this one and the MS-13 ad are doing nothing more than trying to scare people in Virginia, they’re promoting divisiveness, hatred and bigotry, and you know my opponent Mr. Gillespie is running these ads, and his target is Mr. Trump, and he’s finally hit his target, who as you know has tweeted saying I’m fighting for gangs in Virginia. You know I’m a physician Andrea, I’ve taken care of sick children, and their families all my life. I’ve served in the United States Army. The ads are inaccurate, they are despicable, and the contrast between that type of approach, and our approach, which promotes the Virginia way, promotes jobs for Virginians, education, access to healthcare, clean environments, communities that are safe, where there are not guns on every street corner, that’s what Virginians care about. That’s what we promote, and that’s why we’re expecting a large turn out on November the 7th.”